Lockheed Super Constellation
survivors

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Super Constellation

Lockheed introduced the Model 1049 Super
Constellation in 1951. The fuselage was stretched 21 feet over
the length of the original Constellation. More powerful R-3350-34
and -91 turbo-compound engines were installed.

There are twentynineteen surviving Lockheed Super
Constellations in the United States. I have photographed nineeight of them. ThreeOne of them is currently airworthy.

November 23, 2001

C-121G, N105CF at Avra Valley,
Arizona on November 23, 2001. Its Lockheed construction number is
4137. It was being restored for display by the Super
Constellation Flyers group in Switzerland until they realized the true cost of its restoration.
Now they are leasing the Camarillo Connie, N73544 (below)
with an option to buy.

It was delivered to the Navy as R7V-1, 131636. It
was transferred to the Air Force as 54-4062, "City of
Saratoga" in June 1958. It was later re-designated C-121G.
The Air Force renamed it "City of Jackson Hole" in 1966
and retired it in May 1978. DMI Aviation bought it in November
1989 and registered it as N2114Z before selling it to Aero Chago
in the Dominican Republic where it was registered HI-583CT in
June 1990.

September 26, 2005

The future of C-121G, N105CF looks bleak. It has been towed to the long-term storage area of the Marana Regional Airport (formerly Avra Valley) and is being stripped of parts. C-121B, N608AS was recently scrapped at the nearby Ryan Airfield. The same fate may await C-121G, N105CF.

Lockheed C-121C, N73544 at the Gila
River Indian Reservation Memorial Airport on December 30, 1981.
Its Lockheed construction number is 4175. It was delivered to the
Air Force as 54-0156 on November 1, 1955. The Smithsonian
Institute acquired it from storage at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona
in June 1972 in order to trade it to Aviation Specialties for the
Boeing 307
Stratoliner, N19903 Clipper Flying Cloud. Aviation
Specialties registered it as N73544 in March 1973 and retired it
in 1976.

C-121C, N73544 at the Point Mugu
Airshow on October 2, 1994. Globe Air Inc. bought it in February
1981 and sold it to Mehrdad Khoramian in December 1982. It has
been registered to Daryoush Younesi at Tarzana since 1992.

C-121C, N73544 at Camarillo on June 17, 1995.

C-121C, N73544 at Edwards AFB on
Ocober 21, 1995.

This is a stereo pair of C-121C, N73544 at
Camarillo on June 16, 1996. Cross your eyes to see the 3-D
effect.

Wright R-3350 turbo-compound engine
on C-121C, N73544 at the Camarillo airshow on August 11, 2002.

The Wright division of the Curtiss-Wright
company (which was formed by the merger of companies founded by
Glenn Curtiss and the Wright brothers) developed the TC-18
turbo-compound engine from the eighteen-cylinder R-3350 Cyclone
in 1949. Wright's engine works were located in Woodridge,
New Jersey. Wright turbo-compound engines powered the
Douglas DC-7, Lockheed C-121 Constellation, Lockheed P-2 Neptune,
Martin P5M Marlin, and Farchild C-119 Packet.

The turbo-compound engine incorporates a unique
power recovery tubine system that recovers power from the engine
exhaust and feeds it into the propeller crankshaft. Three
turbines are mounted around the engine. Each turbine is fed
the exhaust from six cylinders, extracting some of the energy of
the hot, expanding gases and feeding it into a gearbox connected
to the crankshaft.

The power recovery turbine system improves the
fuel consumption of the R-3350 engine by about 20%. The
improved fuel consumption made it possible for the Douglas DC-7
and Lockheed Constellation to cross the Atlantic Ocean non-stop,
but the complexity of the engine lead to fairly frequent engine
problems. It was not unusual for a trans-Atlantic airliner
to reach its destination with an engine shut down and its
propeller feathered.

Lockheed C-121C Super Constellation, N73544 Camarillo
Connie made a dirty pass over the Hawthorne Airport before
entering the pattern for landing on August 15, 2003.

Camarillo Connie landing at the
Hawthorne Airport on August 15, 2003.

Camarillo Connie landing at the
Hawthorne Airport on August 15, 2003.

Camarillo Connie taxiing at the
Hawthorne Airport on August 15, 2003.

Camarillo Connie was the centerpiece
of the Hawthorne Air and Auto Power Show on August 16, 2003.

Camarillo Connie at the Camarillo
Airshow on August 23, 2003.

On April 22 and 23, 2004 Camarillo Connie was being test flown by the Swiss group that will take her to
Switzerland.

Camarillo Connie on approach to Runway 07 at the
Santa Barbara Airport on April 22, 2004.

Camarillo Connie makes a high pass over Runway 07 at the
Santa Barbara Airport on April 23, 2004.

N73544 took off from the Camarillo Airport for what may have been the last time at 10:00 A.M. on April 26, 2004.

Say good-bye to Camarillo Connie

and say hello to the Breitling Super Constellation.

Now N73544 wears the Breitling "B" on its tail where it used to have an American Flag.

N73544 took off from the Camarillo Airport for what may have been the last time at 10:00 A.M. on April 26, 2004.

The Breitling Super Constellation made one low pass over Runway 26 at the Camarillo Airport and headed away to the north.

EC-121H, 53-0535, c/n 4350

EC-121H, 53-0535 at the Pima County
Air Museum on March 31, 1974. It was built as an RC-121D, and its
Lockheed construction number is 4350. It was redesignated EC-121H
to reflect the addition of electronic equipment for relaying
information to NORAD ground stations. It served with the 551st
Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing. After a short while on
display in the Pima Air Museum, it was transferred to the Minden
Air Corporation storage yard south of Davis-Monthan Air Force
Base and received the civil registration N51006. The Pima Air
Museum acquired EC-121T, 53-0548 in its place. EC-121H, N51006
may now belong to Vern Raburn, the owner of C-121A, N494TW.

EC-121T, 53-0548 at the Pima Air
Museum on December 30, 1981. It was built as an RC-121D, and its
Lockheed construction number is 4363. The EC-121T designation
reflected its conversion from airborne early warning to
electronic reconnaissance.

EC-121T, 53-0548 at the Pima Air
Museum on November 23, 1994. It would soon be restored to
airworthy condition and ferried to Camarillo, California.

EC-121T, 53-0548 at Camarillo on June 17, 1995.
It has been registered N548GF by the Global Aeronautical
Foundation. Unfortunately, corrosion of the main wing spar has
resulted in the grounding of N548GF.

Stereo Pair of EC121T, N548GF at Camarillo on
June 18, 1996. Cross your eyes to see the 3-D effect.

EC121T, N548GF at the Camarillo airshow on
August 11, 2002. The corrosion in the wing has been repaired and
it is airworthy again.

EC-121T Warning Star, N548GF at the Camarillo
Airshow on August 23, 2003.

EC-121T Warning Star, N548GF at the Camarillo
Airshow on August 27, 2005. It is expected to make a single ferry flight to an air museum elsewhere in California.

Link to the EC-121 web site of Dean Boys,
a retired radar tech who flew on this airplane.

EC-121D, 53-0555, c/n 4370

EC-121K, 141309, c/n 4433

EC-121K, 141309 at the McClellan
AFB Museum on April 3, 1993. It was built as a Navy WV-2, but it
is displayed as Air Force EC-121D, 53-0552. Its Lockheed
construction number is 4433.

Link to the Willy
Victor web site, dedicated to the effort and sacrifice of the Navy crewmen
of the WV-2s

L-1049G, F-BRAD, c/n 4519

Air France L-1049G, F-BRAD
displayed in Air France colors at Nantes-Chateu Bougon airfield.
Its Lockheed construction number is 4519. It was delivered to Air
France in April 1953 as F-BGNJ. Air France retired it in August
1967. Air Fret bought it in September 1968 and registered it as
F-BRAD. Air Fret sold it to Catair in December 1969 and bought it
back in June 1973. L-749, F-ZVMV and L-1049G, F-BHBG are also
preserved in France. This photo was provided by Gert Jan Mentink
of the Netherlands.

L-1049G, F-BHML, c/n 4671

Former Air France L-1049G displayed
as D-ALAP in Lufthansa colors at the Frankfurt Airport on June
29, 1989. Its Lockheed construction number is 4671. It was
delivered to Air France as F-BHML in February 1957. It was leased
to Tunis air in June 1961 and returned to Air France the
following September. It was bought by Le Gouvello de la Porte in
March 1968 and immediately sold to Air Fret. Air Classic bought
it in November 1977 for preservation at Frankfurt.

Former Air France L-1049G displayed
as D-ALAP in Lufthansa colors at the Frankfurt Airport.

L-1049H, N6937C, c/n 4830

L-1049H, N6937C is equipped with
spray bars for aerial application of pesticides at Falcon Field,
Mesa, Arizona on May 4, 1974.

The Lockheed construction number of the Star of America is
4830. It was initally registered as N540V by Lockheed Aircraft
Corporation. It was delivered to Slick Airways in September 1957
and given its current registration of N6937C. Bal Trade Inc.
bought it in November 1968 and sold it to Aircraft Airframe Inc.
in June 1971. Aviation Specialties acquired it in February 1973
and sold it to Globe Air Inc. in June 1981. Paul Pristo bought it in October 1985 and
donated it to Save A Connie Inc. in December 1986. The Save A Connie Foundation is now known as the Airline History Museum at Kansas City. It is the last airworthy Super Constellation in the United States.